Determine the Elements

The first step to building a data dictionary is to determine which of your data
sources needs a data dictionary and whether the elements have been identified.

Work with your peers to develop one or more critical questions that should be answered
by the data. Consider any federal, state, or local reporting requirements to help
with determining the needs.

Build a Connection to define the elements, selection
criteria, and computational requirements for each pre-determined critical question.
If you are interested in answering multiple critical questions with a single data
source, use the Select Connections See Elements
report to create a master list of elements across all of your Connections.

Gather Metadata on the Elements

When you have a master list of elements to be included in your data dictionary,
gather metadata about the elements in the system, including:

Location in the Data Source (system, database, table, etc.)

Element Name and Identifier

Definition

Option Set and Option Set Definitions

Element Length

Element Data Type

The more information you have, the more robust the data dictionary will be. Note:
Only Element Name is required.

If you don’t have a definition and/or option set for an element, you can explore CEDS to get started.

CEDS elements have definitions and option sets available for you to adopt.

View the definitions and option sets from your peers by viewing their maps. Select the elements that interest you to find others who also collect that data by running an element-based report and/or you can find the Align maps you are interested in by running a map-based report.

Create the Data Dictionary

The CEDS tool, Align, is a data dictionary/metadata management tool. Create a map in Align, upload the metadata information about the data source’s elements, and align the elements to CEDS.

Share the Data Dictionary

Sharing the Data Dictionary means others have the ability to see the metadata for your data source. You can share with users of your choosing or with all CEDS users. To share a map, access your map via Manage Maps in Align. In the map’s menu, select Using the Map > Share Map.

Additional Resources

Below are additional CEDS resources that may be helpful.

The Mapping Toolkit provides resources to help with mapping your data source to CEDS.